Ernest Ranglin On World Cafe

Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin was born in 1932, and was there for the creation of the Jamaican music scene as we know it. Much evidence suggests that Ranglin was the one who turned the beat around and invented ska, the building block of reggae and all Jamaican music that has followed.

Not only is Ranglin an extremely inventive guitarist, but he's also been an on-call arranger since his youth. He produced reggae's first worldwide smash, 1964's "My Boy Lollipop" by Little Millie Small, and his 1996 album Below the Bassline is a classic. His new album — recorded with Avila, the band that joins him today — is called Bless Up and was produced by Tony Mindel, the second guitarist.